Clasp for suspenders



-(No Model.)

J; P. MOLLOYf CLASP FOR SUSPENDBRS.

Patented June 7, 1887.,

mamas.-

N. PETERS Pholcrlilbographer, Wahlngmn, I).(I.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES F. MOLLOY, or WEsT HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

CLASP FOR SU'SPEND'ERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,365, dated June 7,1887.

Application filed April 13, 1887. Serial No. J34 G54. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES F. MoLLoY, of West Haven, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Spring-Clasps or SnapHooks for Suspenders and otherPurposes, of which the followingisa specification.

My invention more particularly relates to the spring-clasps orsnap-hooks which are employed in suspenders to secure an adjustableconnection between the buckle and tabs; but such a clasp may be employedfor other purposes. As heretofore constructed, clasps or snap-hooks ofthis character have been provided with a pivoted springactuated tonguefor closing the hook, and any twisting strain upon the ring or loop withwhich the hook engages has caused the springtongue to be moved outwardfrom the beak or point of the hook and the loop or ring to be disengagedfrom the hook.

Important objects of my invention are to provide a guard which isrigidly connected with the tongue proper and so arranged with relationto the tongue and hook that any twisting strain produced by the ring orloop with which the hook engages will be taken between the tongue andthe guard, and will not result in the tongue being sprung away from thehook.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide for automaticallycasting out or casting off the ring or loop from the hook when thetongue is swung away from the hook.

To secure the abovedescribed results, I combine with the hook apivotedand spring-actuated tongue having at the end a fork which is presentedtoward the bend of the hook, and one member of which serves to close thehook, while the other member serves as a guard to prevent twistingstrain from the ring or other device from coming upon the hook. Thisguard, being connected with the tongue proper, so as to movesimultaneously therewith, constitutes a casting-off device for movingthe ring or loop laterally out of the hook when the tongue proper isswung away from the hook.

In constructing my improved device the tongue -piece, from which areformed the tongue proper and the guard or castingoff device, may beproduced from a sheet-metal blank bent into boxlike form, and having atthe end which is presented toward the bend of the hook and at the frontand back pro jecting lips or members, which constitute, respectively,the tongue proper and castiug'off device.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 rep resents a suspenderbuckle andtabs connected detachably therewith by my improved device, the spring-clasp or snap-hook being adjustabl y engaged with the ring or loopupon the buckleframe. 'Fig. 2 is an edge view of the buckle andspring-clasp or snap-hook. Fig. 3is a ver tical section of such parts.Fig. 4 represents ablank from which the tongue-piece employed inconnection with the hook may be produced; and Fig. 5 is an end view ofsuch tongue-piece after it is completed, but before its connection withthe hook. Fig. 6 is a View corresponding to Fig. 1, but with thespring-clasp or snaphook reversed in position, and detachably engagedwith a ring or loop, from which the tabs are hung. Fig. 7 is a verticalsection of the parts shown in Fig. 6, the hook being closed by thespring-tongue; and Fig. 8 is a similar section showing the tongue asswung outward from the hook and illustrating the operation of thecasting-oft device.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

A designates the frame, and A the lever of a buckle, with which thesnap-hook or clasp, in this example of the invention, is engaged. Thedevice to which my invention relates is composed, essentially, of twoparts, B O. The part B has its end bent or'turned backward upon itselfto constitute the beak I) of the hook, and the part 0 has aprojeetion orlip, c, which constitutes the tongue proper for the hook. As hererepresented, the hook b engages a ring or loop, b, formed upon thebuckle-frame A. The hook-piece B of the device has flanges I), which arebent transversely to its face, and with which the part 0 is connected bya pivot, I), to which a spring, d, is applied. The part B is hererepresented as having a projection, I)", at the end opposite the hook toform a thumbpiece, and the part Chas a loop, 0', formed in it for theattachment of the tabs D.

A preferred form of tongue-piece G will be best understood from Figs. 4and 5. Fig. 4

represents the blank, and Fig. 5 represents an end View thereof afterthe blank is bent into proper shape. In the blank 0 are formed holes 0',which receive the pivot I)". The blank is bent upon the dotted lines 8s, to give it At the middle of the blank 0 is a project ing lip ormember, 0, and at the edges are similar but narrower projecting lips ormembers, c, and when the blank is bent into boxlike form the two partsa" form a single memher, which is parallel with and of about the samewidth as thelip c. The lip cconstitutcs, in effect, the tongue proper,which closes the beak b of the hook, and the lip or member 0 constitutesa guard which rests normally against the back of the hook, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3, thus giving the end of the part 0 the form of a forkmovable laterally across the point or edge of the hook.

From Fig. 2 it will be seen that any twisting strain of the ring orloop 1) upon the snap hook will be taken on one side by the tongueproper, c, and on the other side by the lip or member a, whichconstitutes a guard, and

. these parts being formed in the same piece or maintained in fixedrelation to each other, such twisting strain will have no tendency tospring the tongue proper, 0, away from the hook.

In the example of the invention shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8 the snap-hookor spring-clasp is reversed in position, and has at the upper end of thetongue-piece C a projection or lip, 0 which is permanently engaged withthe loop 1) upon the buckle-frame, and the hook I) of the deviceengages-a loop or ring, 0, from which the tabs D hang.

In Fig. 8 I have shown more clearly the function of the guard or lip cas a castingoff device. When pressure is applied to the thumb-piece b ofthe part B to spring the tongue proper, c, away fron the hook I), theforked end of the piece 0, which is formed by the tongue 0 and the guardc, is moved laterally across the point or edge of the hook, and bylateral pressure against the ring or loop 0 the guard or member 0 pushesit laterally out p of the hook. In Fig. 8 I have represented the ring orloop a as just passing over the edge or point of the hook. D

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,ish 1. The combination, with a hook, of a pivoted and spring-actuatedtongue having at the end a fork which is presented toward the bend ofthe hook, and one member of which serves to close the hook and the othermember of which serves as a guard to prevent twist ng strain from a ringor other device from coming upon the hook, substantially as hereindescribed.

2. In the spring clasp herein described, the combination, with a hook,of a pivoted springactuated tongue for closing the hook, and acasting-oft device lying normally at the back of the hook and connectedwith the tongue, so as to move simultaneously therewith for easting offa ring, loop, or analogous device from the hook, substantially as hereindescribed.

3. The combination, with the hook-piece B, of the tongue-piece 0,consisting of a sheetmetal ,blank bent into box-like form pivoted to thehook piece, and spring actuated, and having at the end which ispresented toward the bend of the hook and at the front and back the lipsor members a a, substantially as herein described.

J AMES F. MOLLOY.

Witnesses:

ROBERT LYNN, RoLLIN I. HINE.

